Middletown II 1-9 St Malachy’s 2-13
St Malachy’s have been crowned Junior Hurling champions with a deserved seven-point victory over Middletown IIs. A huge second half display was the difference and it took a replay to eventually decide things.
Middletown IIs made the better start and rattled off the first two scores through Ronnie Monaghan and Terry McCann. It wasn’t long before St Malachy’s were back on level terms through Eoin Livingstone and Joe McKeever (65).
Three on the bounce from Monaghan put a bit of daylight between the teams but the Portadown men shot back. Joseph Breen rattled home the game’s first goal while score from James Hamill (free) and Breen put them ahead for the first time.
Monaghan and Hamill both split the posts from the dead ball before Middletown tied the game once again. Monaghan stroked over two frees to see the half time score level, 0-8 to 1-5 at the break.
Daire Walsh nudged his side in front while they grabbed a second major with Breen hitting the target again. Their scoring spree continued with McKeever landing three in a row while Peter Lavery also got on the scoresheet.
Monaghan got Middletown’s end of the scoring operating once again, with a first score in 19 minutes. A long range Paddy McArdle free dropped into the net and suddenly Middletown were back in with a shout.
But it wasn’t to be and St Malachy’s didn’t panic. They claimed the final three scores of the game with Hamill claiming a third while Man of the Match McKeever grew his tally to 0-6 with the final two points of the day.